Too Hot
by BlameItOnTheNaquadah
Summary: I wrote this ages ago - in fact it may have been the first instalment in the 'Too' series! But because it ended up being longer than a one-shot it got shoved aside and forgotten about. Daniel and Vala - cut off and left behind on a planet with a disturbingly malevolent atmosphere - struggle to survive until they are rescued. Some adventure, some snuggling.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The cliff dropped away with no warning.

Daniel had been slightly ahead of Vala, racing through the thick, tall grass which came up higher than themselves when suddenly - he was gone. The ground just crumbled from beneath his feet and he disappeared, hurtling downwards without even having time to shout a warning to the others. He heard Vala's startled gasp as he vanished from right in front of her, then a little cry and he was aware that she was falling as well.

Daniel tried to grab at something, anything as he plummeted downwards but really – that was only how actors managed to save themselves in movies. The cliff face was sandy, with no roots or rocks protruding from it, the only faint hope that he had was that it was not a sheer drop but more of an extremely steep hill.

Tumbling rapidly towards the sandy floor of the valley, Daniel attempted to relax his body as much as possible. Still, when he finally hit the ground he felt the shock jar throughout his entire body. His right ankle twisted hard underneath him as he toppled with a grunt onto his side, smacking his head against the ground. The last thing he was aware of before he passed out was Vala landing in a flurry of dirt and flailing limbs beside him.

\- o - o - o - o - o -

SG-1 had been heading back at full speed towards the Stargate, a dozen or so angry bandits hard on their heels.

The council in the local town, friendly and co-operative during their previous visits, had been surly and ungracious from the outset on this occasion. The whole team had felt edgy and tense – called in to a meeting with the elders they had been virtually ordered off of the planet.

When Colonel Mitchell had queried as to why the sudden turnaround in support the council chairman had briefly wavered in his stance. He seemed as if he was about to speak – right before several hidden men appeared from strategic positions around the room. Nobody doubted that they were either Lucian Alliance, or their very close allies.

SG-1, relieved now of their weapons, had been marched from the room and out of the building, heading off towards the east and the desert flatlands that lay in that direction. Mitchell thought that the Alliance probably had a ship out there.

But before they reached the boundary of the town several bolts fired from hidden crossbows hit a number of SG-1's captors who fell, giving the team a chance to run for the Stargate. They had managed a fairly decent head start before they heard other members of the enemy start to follow them.

Immediately Mitchell had shouted for the team to use the cover of the grass that grew along the edges of the flatlands. Everyone had plunged in among the tall, rush-like plants, and continued to race along at full speed.

Somewhere during their flight Daniel and Vala must have veered off, away from Teal'c and Mitchell.

The archaeologist found himself slightly ahead of his team mate before suddenly realizing that they were both far too close to the edge of the cliff. Vala had managed to pull back slightly, away from the drop, but Daniel felt the sandy ground begin to crumble under his feet and before he could do anything about it he was falling almost straight downwards, heading for the rocky valley bottom below.

Mitchell and Teal'c, further away from the cliff face had managed to keep on track - they continued to head towards the Stargate, unaware of the misfortune that had befallen their team mates. The DHD was already alight as the duo pelted headlong towards their escape route, the last chevron locking into place. One of their hitherto unseen allies stood next to it, waiting for them.

"Hurry, friends, hurry!" he had called, firing a bolt from his cross bow over their heads, before making his own escape through the long grass. "Do not think that all your allies on this world have abandoned you!"

"Go through!" Mitchell ducked behind the DHD. "I'll wait for Jackson and Vala!"

Teal'c, in the best tradition of all SG-1 members, had ignored his CO and crouched next to him.

"I too will wait."

"We have no weapons!" the Colonel looked angrily at the Jaffa. "At least one of us should get back to the SGC."

"We cannot leave DanielJackson and ValaMalDoran," Teal'c drew a hidden knife from inside his boot, and another from down the back of his trousers.

"Where..?" Mitchell's eyebrows were raised as high as they could go.

In answer the Jaffa hurled one of the weapons in the direction of a swiftly approaching adversary, hitting him in the neck. The man dropped to the ground, blood spurting from his wound. Another antagonist seemed to think better of it and retreated, running back towards the town.

"How did you..?" Mitchell was still bemused as to how Teal'c had managed to secrete the two knives around his person.

"Ronon Dex." His team mate spoke sombrely. "He is extremely skilled in the concealment of weaponry about his person. We exchanged much information on such techniques when last we met."

There was a fierce and sudden clap of thunder from overhead. The heavy, muggy air around them was fairly zinging with electricity. And still there was no sign of Daniel or Vala.

"We must both return to the SGC." Teal'c looked gravely at his CO. "It is already evening and twilight approaches. We should report to General Landry and return with reinforcements."

Mitchell paused, then nodded slowly. "Yeah." Sighing, he stood up cautiously. The wormhole was still pulsing and shimmering within the gate. "I hope they others' are okay. Let's just cross our fingers that they're stuck and can't get to us. C'mon."

He stepped away from the DHD as another huge roll of thunder rumbled around them, and led the way up the steps and back to the SGC.

\- o - o - o - o - o -

Hitting the ground just a few seconds after Daniel, Vala had managed to shift position somehow as she fell, landing more or less on top of her backpack, which had cushioned the landing. Thus she had managed to avoid any serious injury, escaping miraculously with just scrapes and bruises. Struggling up, covered in sand and bits of plant debris, she had quickly realised that Daniel wasn't going to be coming back to the land of the living any time soon, so she'd pulled him tightly in against the cliff face, hiding them both in case anyone looked down from above.

Vala wasn't sure how long she held the archaeologist close against herself, but after a while it was obvious that nobody was aware of their manic descent, not even Mitchell and Teal'c. Leaving Daniel for a few moments she'd crept along the bottom of the cliff, looking for somewhere to hide. A couple of hundred yards or so further along the sand became more stony and earthy – another short distance and there was a long horizontal rock propping up several smaller rocks. At some point in the past it looked as if persons unknown had dug back into the earth – there was a short tunnel leading on a slight incline up into the cliff face.

It was all Vala needed to see. She had ran back to Daniel, taken her jacket off and tied the sleeves under his armpits. Grasping the bottom of the garment she then used it to pull her team mate slowly but surely along the ground towards the small cave. She was panting and red faced by the time that they arrived – the sticky, hot climate of the local area not helping her.

Vala had wiped her sweaty hands down her pants and carefully lugged Daniel into the shady recess. Inside the small cave the air was only marginally less sultry than outside, but at least it gave a degree or two of relief. The first rumble of thunder rolled overhead as she slipped back along the cliff face to collect the two backpacks. Vala winced as she hauled one up onto her bruised shoulders and began to drag the other along behind her.

When she reached the small cave again Daniel had been mumbling unintelligibly under his breath. He stirred momentarily as his breathing hitched and Vala thought that he might come to, but he drifted away again. Tipping some water from her bottle onto a tissue she had used the cool cloth to gently wipe across the archaeologist's forehead, being especially careful around the large bruise she found on the right side.

Daniel didn't move.

Sighing, she expertly ran her hands gently over his body as she felt for further injuries. The grossly swollen right ankle was soon discovered and attended to with more damp wipes.

Daniel had winced and turned his head on the makeshift pillow.

"Sssshhh." Vala stroked his face very gently, watching as he settled again.

So now, several hours after their swift descent down the cliff, Vala sat beside the archaeologist, in a rapidly darkening cave, with a thunder storm rumbling about outside. She could only hope that their two team mates had managed to reach the Stargate and get help. The fact that she hadn't heard any weapons fire from the top of the cliff at any point gave her some hope.

Rummaging about in her backpack, Vala pulled out an energy bar and scoffed it quickly. She eyed the bar of chocolate which was in the same pocket – pressing it dubiously she pouted, realising it was undoubtedly more of a chocolate puddle inside it's wrapping by now.

 _Oh well, still chocolate_ , she thought to herself, unwrapping it as best she could and polishing it off in a most unladylike manner, with a lot of slurping and finger licking.

Vala had just sucked the last bit of chocolate off of the paper and was licking her fingers individually when she was aware that Daniel was watching her from where he lay against the wall.

"Hello darling," she crawled over to him, and gently lifted the damp tissue from his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm not sure," his clear blue eyes were puzzled. "Did I fall off of a cliff?"

"You did. Me too." Vala stroked his cheek gently. "It most definitely wasn't my fault though. You definitely went off the edge before me. I'm an innocent party in all this!"

She looked virtuous. Lightening zigzagged outside the cave and a huge crack of thunder rang out overhead. Daniel was not unaware that his team mate cringed closer to him.

"You okay?" Daniel tapped her arm.

His team mate plastered the wide, insincere smile across her face. "Absolutely darling. I'm not scared of a silly old storm." Vala laid her hand carefully against his ankle. "How does this feel?"

 _Distraction_ , she thought to herself. _Don't pay attention to the storm. It can't hurt you. Don't pay attention to it._

Daniel screwed his face up in pain as he tried to move his right leg. "It feels like Teal'c sat on it," he told her. A pause. "Did he?"

Vala chuckled. "No." Her expression sobered. "I don't know what happened to Muscles and Cameron. I just hope that they managed to get to the Stargate."

"We were running." The archaeologist lay quietly, trying to remember. "We were running for the 'gate – through long grass, right?"

"Mmm." More thunder. Vala's fist clenched tightly on Daniel's shirt. She barely realized as he gently untangled her fingers and rubbed his thumb across her palm.

"That's the last thing I remember," the archaeologist carried on speaking. "Long grass, falling. Then what happened?"

"Well, I landed on my rucksack and discovered that you'd already managed to knock yourself out, you silly boy." Vala flicked her hair over her shoulder. "So I sneaked along the cliff and found this lovely little cave and then went and brought you here." She paused briefly. "I don't think that they know we're here. I mean, I suppose that they would have sent some horrible, grumpy locals to come and root us out if they realised where we were."e kept hold of the smaller hand in his own.

"Well done." Daniel smiled, feeling suddenly weary. His head was thumping, he felt sick and his ankle was killing him.

Vala smiled – not the fake smile but a gentle, caring one. Unwillingly she pulled her hand slowly from his before holding her water bottle to his lips. "Here." She helped him take a long, cool drink, then took a quick swig herself. Afterwards she unwrapped another energy bar and popped it into Daniel's mouth, a little at a time, making small talk to distract him from the pain of his ankle. When he'd finished she rummaged in one of the pockets of her pack and produced some Advil which she told him to take, in no uncertain terms.

"You're turning into Carolyn," Daniel grinned tiredly, knocking the pills back with another swallow of water.

Vala reclaimed the bottle, eyeing it's contents thoughtfully. _We'd better be careful_ , she thought, _we don't know how long this is going to have to last for._

The thunder broke like an explosion directly overhead mere milliseconds after a flash of lightening lit up the interior of the cave, as brightly as if it were midday.

Vala jumped visibly.

"Hey," Daniel winced as he pushed himself up a little. "Come here." He tugged his team mate's arm gently, succeeding in pulling her closely and very carefully against him.

"I'm not scared, darling, you know," Vala told him, gray eyes wide and apprehensive. "I just think that perhaps you need a bit of comfort this evening. You know, having hit your head and all that. Not that I need to be protected or anything. Or be looked after, because as you well know, it was me doing all the looking after business today. I mean, you'd be still lying at the bottom of that cliff if it wasn't for me, darling. Getting very wet by now undoubtedly."

Another crash and long roll of thunder. Daniel stretched his arm further around his team mate.

Vala turned and snuggled as close against him as was humanly possible. "I'm not scared," she repeated, her hand clutching at the front of his shirt.

"I know." Daniel rested one cheek against her dusty hair.

Lying in silence, they waited for the storm to pass.

 **TBC...**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Daniel lay still, conscious of Vala who was still sleeping curled up close against him. Her hand was tangled in his T-shirt from where she'd clenched her fist every time that the thunder boomed overhead. They'd both lain awake for a long time on the previous night – he'd never realised before, how much storms seemed to frighten her.

Vala had gradually molded herself closer and closer against Daniel, until she was wrapped almost entirely around his top half and left leg. He guessed that she couldn't have been that comfortable, but she'd still managed to fall asleep eventually. A mane of long hair spread across his arm and shoulder and she had almost buried her face in his neck, a side effect of all that wriggling about during the night.

The storm had blasted itself out but the air didn't seem to have cleared much – it was still pretty heavy and stifling in the little cave. The fact that he was almost blanketed by a Vala-duvet probably wasn't helping. Daniel could feel a cough coming - he tried to stifle it so as not to wake his team mate, but only succeeded in starting a choking fit. He struggled up, head banging and hand over mouth.

Vala slid onto the ground – she rolled onto her back, rubbing her eyes.

"Morning," Reaching for the water, Daniel coughed out a greeting.

"Let me, darling," Vala got to the bottle first and opened it, holding it carefully against his lips as he took a deep draught.

"Thanks." Daniel flopped back against his backpack. "Any pain killers left?"

"Some." His team mate pulled a sheet of tablets out of her own supplies and popped a couple of them into her palm. "Down in one, darling." She winked, handing him the bottle of water again.

He knocked the pills back quickly.

Meanwhile Vala was checking his ankle. It still looked very red and swollen, but no worse than it had appeared the day before. She took her own bottle and freshened the tissue which lay across the poor, bruised joint. "Does that feel a little easier?" she asked, gently replacing the makeshift cool pack.

Daniel nodded. "Yeah." It didn't feel better by much, but she was trying so hard, and being so considerate that he didn't want to put her off. He frowned as he watched her wince and stretch her shoulders awkwardly. "How are you feeling?" he enquired, concerned.

"Oh," flapping her hands around and grinning like a Cheshire cat, Vala attempted to distract him. "I'm fine darling. Just landed a little too roughly on my very pretty backside yesterday. My back aches a little, that's all." Actually it ached quite a lot, as did her shoulders and her posterior, but she wasn't going to admit that. Not when she was the one in charge. The one who was doing the looking after, for once.

"Do you hear that?" Daniel cocked his head to one side suddenly. He could hear a trickling, tinkling sound from close by the cave.

Frowning, Vala crawled to the entrance and peeped out. Then - "Oh I say!" She grabbed her half full water bottle, upending it into Daniel's almost empty one. Then without another word she shot out of the cave entrance and disappeared. When she returned she was grinning.

"It's a little stream! The storm must have made it overnight," she told him, rummaging in her pack for the water treatment tablets which they always carried, and dropping two into her flask. She swirled them around. "It's a bit sandy, but I'm sure it will taste just – just lovely!" Vala wiggled the container in her hand and smiled engagingly at Daniel.

The invalid wasn't so sure about the taste of very sandy and treated water but in an emergency an injured archaeologist had to take what he could get.

Vala was thinking privately that the sandy water would be useful for bathing sprained ankles and sore heads – as long as Daniel had enough drinking water, that was the main thing. She took a swig from her bottle. "That is positively vile, darling!" she spluttered, handing it over to her team mate who dubiously swallowed a mouthful.

"Agreed. Tastes like someone's washed their Alliance socks in it." Daniel pulled a face and handed it back to her. "We can use it in an emergency though."

"Do you think that the other's will come today?" Vala ran her fingers through her hair to try and get it looking half way decent. "Mitchell and Muscles, I mean. Do you think they'll come back and look for us?"

"I guess so." Daniel winced as he changed position. "Depends what other teams are around for back up. Or whether they're going to wait and see if we can make it to the Stargate ourselves." He paused. "You could go. There's no reason that you should be stuck here too. You could make a run for it and get help."

"But who would care for you?" Vala looked horrified, like he'd asked her to chop her own arm off. "You're injured. I couldn't leave you, darling. You're not implying that you _want_ me to leave, are you? That you want to be left on your own? Am I doing a bad job of being a nurse? Because I think that I'm coping quite admirably, actually, and I'm trying at all times to think of what Carolyn would do in this situation. And before, you know, I used to do some work with healing. With a person who healed. A person, I mean, who healed other people. I was quite good at helping, you know. I was their assistant. Before - before - you know."

"Before what?" Daniel thought that he already knew the answer. Vala had never shared this part of her past with him before. She was so closed off about her previous life, and told so many exaggerated stories that generally he just let her tales drift over him. But this seemed different – like the truth had escaped without her meaning it too.

There was a long pause. Vala looked away from him and began to draw patterns on the sandy floor of the cave.

"Before what?" Repeating his earlier question, Daniel leaned forward and gently pulled at her arm.

"Her." Vala didn't look at him, but carried on tracing pictures. "Before her."

Silence. She undoubtedly meant Qetesh. Daniel tugged her harder on her arm.

Eventually Vala looked across at him. She was trying hard not to look sad, but her beautiful, stormy eyes gave it away.

"Then I'm a lucky man," gently he squeezed her shoulder. "Having you to look after me."

Vala smiled and punched his arm. Then looked speculative. "Perhaps I _should_ sneak off up to the Stargate," she mused. "I mean, if it _is_ unguarded, I wonder if we could find a way to get to it and escape?"

"Vala….." warned Daniel, in his 'what madness have I planted in her head' voice.

"I'll be careful!" waving her hand dismissively, his team mate crept up to the front of the cave. "Well, would you look at that! The stream's all vanished away." She popped her head carefully out of the opening. "It's terribly hot out there, darling, I shall undoubtedly get burned to an ember."

"Cinder." Daniel threw his bandana at her, which he'd pulled from his rucksack. "You'll be burned to a cinder."

"Same thing." Vala tied the headscarf in place.

The archaeologist's heart did a sudden little judder in his chest. She looked very sweet and – he swallowed – quite sexy with his bandana wrapped around her gorgeous black tresses.

"Right! Wish me luck!" and without another word Vala plunged out of the cave and vanished.

Daniel opened his mouth to yell after her, before thinking better of it. The last thing that he wanted to do was give away either his or her position to the enemy. He swigged back another mouthful of water and tried to settle himself more comfortably. Pulling out his radio, he checked that it still worked. There was only static when he switched it on however, so he turned it off again, sighing.

Daniel moved his right leg carefully. The painkillers had alleviated the pain slightly, he hoped that the ankle wasn't broken. He poked at the bruise above his right eye. "Ouch." Laying back on his rucksack again he moved around until he felt comfortable and close his eyes. He must have dozed off, because he was awoken by Vala crawling back into the cave.

She was breathless, red faced and dripping with sweat. Pulling the bandana off she ran her hand through her damp hair, and used the headscarf to wipe her face.

"It's so hot." Vala was still panting hard, having trouble catching her breath.

Daniel handed her the water bottle, concerned.

She coughed hard before taking a quick drink. After a few moments her breathing settled. "It's so hot!" repeating her earlier statement, she laid herself flat out on the earth, kicking off her boots. "It must be a hundred degrees of something or other out there! Really, I mean it darling. And the sun just burns you. Look!"

The skin on her arms did indeed look redder than when she had left the cave. Rumaging around in her backpack she pulled out a tube of sun lotion and rubbed it in.

"Er –." Daniel pursed his lips. "Stable door – horse?"

"Stable door? What are you talking about?" Vala launched herself unexpectedly onto his lap and laid a hand against his forehead. "Are you delirious again darling? Because I can assure you that I didn't see one single horse out there, or a stable to put him in!"

Daniel smiled. "No, it's just a Tau'ri saying. You're putting the sun cream on after you've been in the sun."

"Better late than never." Vala ran her hand softly down his face, a strange look in her eyes. Her lips parted slightly.

Daniel found he was suddenly unable to draw his own gaze away from his team mate's. "Vala…" he began, slowly.

"I know." Sighing, she clambered off of his lap. "Seriously though, Daniel, there is something wrong with the weather out there! Perhaps it's because there are no clouds today." She paused, musing. "It's almost like the sun burns every part of you that it can get hold of, including inside your nose and mouth when you breathe."

"Did you get to the Stargate?" Daniel asked, thinking that he already knew the answer.

Vala shook her head, sadly. "I walked for ages – ages and ages, and eventually managed to crawl up the cliff, where it's not quite so steep." Indicating a large hole in her BDU's and a sore-looking grazed knee beneath, she frowned. "I don't think that I like cliffs very much. Anyway – the Stargate is surrounded by bad guys. At least a dozen of them. And there's a very sad and sorry looking MALP sitting there as well, all dented and broken. I suppose that Mitchell sent it through to see if it was safe to come back."

They both sat in silence for a while. Daniel sighed eventually, took his glasses off with one hand and rubbed his eyes with the other.

"It'll be alright, darling," Vala nodded, trying to cheer him up. "It'll just take Mitchell and Muscles a bit longer, that's all. They'll have to think up a better plan for coming back to find us. Perhaps they'll send the _Hammond._ Oh!" She clasped her hands together, smiling widely, eyes bright. "Perhaps Samantha will come and save us!"

"Perhaps." Daniel slipped his glasses back on and leaned back. Yes, they'd just have to sit and wait. And hope that the Alliance didn't find them first.

 **TBC...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Huge apologies for the slow update - just been busy, busy, busy here at Naquadah Mansions. Very sorry.**

Chapter 3

Later on, during the afternoon, Vala took a chance and slipped away out of the cave again. She was smothered in sun protection cream, Daniel's bandana wrapped loosely around her mouth and nose. She carefully and quietly climbed the cliff and peered over the top. There were still about a dozen or so guards around the Stargate, all armed. Vala looked closer – noticing now that all of the men standing out in the open wore long, loose scarves, similar to her own. It appeared that they had some sort of breathing apparatus on beneath their bandanas - she couldn't see clearly, and wished that she'd brought Daniels' binoculars with her.

 _Not that it matters much,_ Vala thought, beginning to wheeze from the effects of the strange, heated climate. Gazing up at the sky, she wondered about the bizarre weather on this strange planet. They hadn't suffered any problems with the atmosphere on SG-1's previous visits, but now that she thought about it, it had been cloudy on both occasions. It had even rained on their second visit.

 _It must be something to do with direct sunlight,_ Vala mused, wriggling back down the cliff and taking care not to scuff her knees again. By the time that she hit the gulley bottom she could barely draw breath. She reluctantly took several swigs from the bottle of sandy water, which made her cough. After a minute or so of resting in the shadows she managed to recover enough to be able to slip quietly along in the shade of the cliff and head back to the little cave.

"Vala!" Daniel spoke with real concern in his voice as Vala crawled back into the cave, trying to drag some slightly cleaner air into her lungs, skin pale and clammy.

Without thinking Daniel upended his own bottle of water, creating a healthy sized puddle in his palm, before dribbling the water over her dusty face. He held the flask up to her lips – after a few moments she took a few sips, coughing hard afterwards.

"Oh darling, this is the most vile of all horrid planets!" Vala flopped against him, forehead and arms red and sore from the heavy, leaden sunshine. "I hate it here, and when we get home, well, I shall have to tell Cameron in no uncertain terms, that I'm never coming back here again! He can fire me if he wants!"

"Well - you won't hear any complaints from me." Daniel shook his bottle, which now was only about a quarter full. "He'll have to fire both of us." He stroked her damp hair away from her face. "No going outside again in daylight, okay?"

Vala nodded. "You don't have to tell me twice, darling. Well, sometimes you _do_ have to tell me things twice, but you won't ever have to say that again. I mean, you had to tell me twice not to touch those things in Glastonbury, I recall. And Samantha definitely once said, don't go into.."

"Okay, and that's where we need to finish this conversation." Daniel softened his remark by a swift stroke of his thumb along her jaw line. "Off." He tilted his shoulder to make her sit forward. "Are there any painkillers left anywhere?"

Vala pulled out the last sheet of tablets. There were eight left. She popped two free of their foil wrap and handed them to him.

Hesitantly, Daniel took a swig of their precious and ever decreasing water supply. "Do you think that it'll rain again tonight?" he asked.

Vala shrugged, then grimaced herself. Shrugging with sore shoulders was painful.

"Want a couple of these?" Daniel held out the painkillers.

Vala shook her head. "You need them more than me, darling. How is the leg, by the way?"

"Better, I think," he replied, pulling the makeshift poultice away from his ankle. It did indeed look slightly less swollen and red.

"Well then," rubbing her hands, Vala grinned winsomely at Daniel. "How would you like to take me to dinner, darling? I'd like an energy bar and some sandy water please!"

Daniel chuckled - he couldn't help himself – and pulled his friend in for a hug. Even stuck in the middle of a godawful planet like this one, she still tried to keep cheerful.

Vala took the unforeseen opportunity to wrap her own arms around his shoulders and wriggle up close. That teasing, playful look was in her eyes and she raised her eyebrows hopefully.

"Stop it," Daniel told her.

The ex-space pirate pouted before huffing noisily and pushing away from him.

Daniel frowned - for a moment he thought that he'd seen a genuine flicker of disappointment in her eyes. "Hey," he caught her arm. "I'm still up for that date, though."

"A date? A real date? Even in a cave?" Vala grabbed one of their remaining precious energy bars and broke it in half. "Can we tell the others that it was a real date?"

"Okay." Daniel sighed briefly, giving up. "Okay, you can tell them that it's a date!"

\- o - o - o - o - o -

Night had drawn in quickly again, except this time there were no flashes of lightening to illuminate their little hideout.

Vala had used one of their precious torches to sort through the backpacks and find out how many supplies they actually had left. There were four MRE's, three energy bars, one bar of chocolate and two rolls of mints. Daniel had just under a quarter of a bottle full of water. Vala had the same ammount in her's, but a large part of that was sand. She gave a tiny sigh. Her head was aching and her arms sore from the sun earlier. Surely Mitchell and the others would come and rescue them tomorrow? She'd tried not to drink too much during the day, encouraging Daniel to have more than his share, as she felt that he needed it more. After all, the SGC didn't really need a space pirate, should the worse happen, but they did require their archaeologist.

Vala repacked all of their provisions and came back to sit next to Daniel. Neither of them spoke, she just laid her head on his shoulder, as he put his arm around her. The air was practically pulsing with an almost visible miasma of unrelenting heat, the atmosphere was becoming more and more uncomfortable in their little cave.

"Let's lie down," Daniel tugged his backpack back over towards himself and lay back against it, grimacing slightly as he moved his injured ankle.

Vala over hauled her own kit and did the same, propping it up next to his. She lay back against it, smiled gently and closed her eyes.

Daniel flicked off the little torch. After a few minutes he heard Vala turn onto her side – moments later she tentatively lay her arm on top of his own. He moved his hand to catch her's, briefly squeezing it before holding it gently against his chest.

"They'll come tomorrow," Vala whispered, into the velvet blackness around them. "Mitchell won't let us down, darling. They'll come tomorrow."

"Yeah." Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. He certainly hoped so.

\- o - o - o - o - o -

Daniel awoke suddenly in the middle of the night, unsure of why. Vala was gone from beside him, reaching out to where she had been lying he could feel no trace of her. Panicking suddenly he sat forward, about to call for her.

"Sssh." Her voice came very, very quietly from over near the cave entrance. Almost straightaway he heard another noise – the unmistakable sound of someone slipping on the stony, sandy ground outside.

He and Vala had no weapons – the Alliance had relieved SG-1 of their firearms before they'd marched them away from the village. Daniel felt around in the darkness for anything that could be used as a weapon – all he came up with was his shoe. As his eyes adjusted to the night he thought that he could see Vala's shape against the night sky outside. Only a few seconds later, and he was sure of it. Mainly because someone unknown was coming closer and closer, and undoubtedly carrying a light.

Vala pulled back suddenly, as far as she could against the wall, just as a man appeared at the entrance to the cave, holding a Zat out in front of himself. He wore some kind of light source clipped to his shoulder. As he leaned in Vala whipped out a large rock from down by her side and smashed it down on his head. He grunted and staggered – she went for his Zat, wrenching it from his grip and hitting him with a blast to the side of his chest. However as she went to stand she received the same treatment from another man who had obviously been following the first.

Vala fell, tumbling over the first guy who lay in front of her. The Zat dropped almost at Daniel's feet – without thinking he picked it up and fired it at their other adversary, who was still watching Vala. The man crumpled into a heap.

Waiting, hardly daring to breathe, the archaeologist listened for any more of the enemy coming, but the two men must have been alone. He looked sadly at them as they lay incapacitated on the floor of the cave. Gently grasping Vala's upper arms, he manhandled her across the cave towards himself, so that no part of her was touching either of the two Alliance members. Then, regretfully, he fired the Zat a second time at them both, while they were still unconscious. Then he fired again. The men disappeared, as if they had never been there in the first place.

 _Killing is never easy,_ Daniel mused, _even if it's your enemy._ He felt Vala move against him – groaning, she attempted to sit up.

"My head is killing me," she leaned forward, covering her face with her hands. "Did you Zat me?"

"No I did not!" replied her team mate, indignantly.

"Well, you can't deny darling, you have done it before." Vala groaned again and leaned into his side, heavily, hands still over her eyes. "Where did they go, by the way?"

"I had to Zat them." Daniel's voice was sober.

She understood. "Three times?".

He nodded.

Vala laid one of her hands over his. "We've all had to make that decision sometime, darling."

Head pulsating and muscles aching, she crawled back over to the cave entrance. "I'll go on first watch. But I really need just a little bit of water to drink." Taking one of their flasks, she took the tiniest swig that she could get away with and handed it back.

Daniel took a longer draught. He was wondering how many times, before the alien had come to the SGC, she had needed to make the decision to Zat someone three times.

"I should go on first watch," he told her.

Vala shook her head. "No, Daniel. The SGC needs it's archaeologist more than it needs a retired space pirate. You go to sleep. I'll wake you if I hear anything."

Reluctantly, he laid back on the rucksack again. "If you don't wake me in two hours, I swear, I'll report you to Landry. For disobeying orders!"

Chuckling, Vala took another tiny swig of water. "Darling, I don't know if you'd noticed, but hardly anyone obeys your orders anyway."

"Especially you!"

"Especially me," she continued, with some satisfaction. "That's because most of your orders are ridiculous. 'Don't touch that, don't say that, don't go over there, stop talking, stop fiddling, stop eating – need I go on?"

"You make me sound like I'm some kind of nagging old school master." Daniel mused.

"You are darling," Vala replied, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable. "But I still love you."

She threw the comment out at him flippantly, but for the first time Daniel realised that her careless bandying around of endearments and sexual remarks actually hid something far deeper. Before he could change his mind, and probably only because it was so dark that she couldn't see him blush, he pulled himself awkwardly across the cave.

"What are you…?" Vala began, but was stopped by the feel of lips, brushing so very gently over her own. Her heart leaped and her breathing juddered – she opened her mouth slightly and Daniel deepened the kiss, tenderly.

He put his hand up to cup her face and softly stroked his thumb across her cheek, wiping away a single tear that had slipped hesitantly down her cheek.

Vala was lost. She brought her own hands up to Daniel's face, teasing his tongue very carefully with her own. _Oh my – holy Hannah, holy crap, for cryin' out loud!_ She was melting, dissolving into a massive puddle of hormones and heat – then before she could speak he'd pulled away.

Daniel was panting – how had that just happened? He tried to steady his breath. Something strange had happened there, between them – some opening up of hearts, joining of souls. He knew now, without a doubt, that all of Vala's suggestive innuendo's towards him hid much deeper, truer feelings. The archaeologist was beginning to think that he might like to find out more.

Vala was grinning dazedly in the darkness.

"I'm on first watch," she managed to stammer out, again.

"Okay." Daniel moved back, and lay down, but it took him a long time to fall asleep, and he watched her shadowy figure for the entire time, until he could fight it no longer and his eyelids slid closed.

 **TBC...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Daniel awoke with a start early the next morning. A dull, heavy sunlight was creeping across the edge of the cave. There was no sound from outside. Whoever had sent the two assailants during the night hadn't followed to see what had happened to them.

Daniel's head felt woolly and sore, his throat dry. He pulled the bottle of water towards himself and took a swig from it. It was less than a quarter full. A lot less.

Vala was propped up by the entrance, eyes closed and head drooping. The sunlight was creeping slowly towards her across the floor of the cave.

"Hey, Vala!" hissed Daniel. There was no response. "Pssst!"

Still nothing. A dreadful premonition stole over the archaeologist – he dragged himself across the ground to where she sat.

Her face was flushed, skin hot and dry to the touch. In fact, her whole body was hot and dry to the touch. Trying to stem the panic that was rising in his chest, Daniel tipped some of the sandy water onto his hands and trickled it onto her face.

"Ow." Whispering, Vala turned her head to the other side, eyes still closed. "I hurt. Everywhere."

Daniel took her pulse – it was racing. He strongly suspected a mixture of heat stroke and dehydration and dreaded to think what her temperature was. She needed help – right now. He held the bottle of cleaner water to her lips.

Vala took a small sip before seeming to rouse a little more. She shook her head. "No." Pushing his hand away feebly she pressed her lips together. "The SGC needs it's archaeologist….more than - more than – an - an ex-space pirate." She finished on barely more than a whisper.

Daniel froze. Vala had said the same thing the night before. Oh gods. _Has she been letting me drink all the water? Has she been giving up her own supply?_ People died of heatstroke. She'd sweated so much yesterday as well, going out into that horrible sunlight.

Panicking suddenly, he shook her hard, trying to rouse her, and held the bottle to her lips. "Drink!" he patted her face until she opened her eyes. "That's an order, dammit Vala! Drink!"

She sipped a little more, some of the water running down her chin. Daniel dragged her away from the entrance, further back into the cave, to get her as far away from the heat as possible. At least the earth was fairly cool further back inside, even if the air wasn't.

Laying Vala carefully down on the dark floor of the cave, Daniel hoped that it would at least alleviate some of the heat currently raging around her body. Tipping up the bottle of sandy water, he soaked as many tissues as he could find and laid them across her forehead, neck, chest and arms. She whimpered once or twice, but didn't move.

Daniel, trying to keep down the wave of panic that threatened to burst out of him, moved slowly towards the cave entrance and scanned the valley outside. The sunlight was different today – opaque, woolly, smothering. When he looked up at the sky however, the archaeologist felt the first faint twinge of hope. Thick cloud cover spread as far as the eye could see. Heavy, grey-white and oppressive. It made the atmosphere even more humid, if that was even possible, but he could live with that, if those clouds brought rain later.

 _Please_ , Daniel closed his eyes, lifting up some kind of prayer to anyone who might be listening. _Please, please – make it rain. Soon, before it's too late._

Rain did come, but not until the evening. Fortunately for the two lost team mates, Dr Lam and a team from the SGC arrived first.

\- o - o - o - o - o -

Vala thought she was being burned alive again. Her body seemed like it was on fire, her head almost bursting with a heated, cutting pain. She could hear her heart pounding, racing inside her chest. Her throat felt as if it was made of sandpaper – she couldn't make her voice work. She was aware of Daniel talking to her once or twice – he dribbled water over her body once or twice, and held the bottle to her lips.

Vala wondered if she'd died and was in hell already. Was Daniel dead too? That didn't seem right – he was too good a person. She tried to open her eyes – everything swam before her, making her feel dizzy and sick.

Then, without explanation, everything changed. She could hear other people talking – she recognised their voices, but couldn't quite place them. Somebody took hold of her left hand – there was a sharp, stabbing sensation for a moment. Vala was too delirious to attempt to pull away. She felt – ah, bliss! – something cool being tucked under her arms and behind her neck – there was water, cool water, being poured over her and a breeze ruffled her hair away from her face.

"Try to rest," said one of the voices – a female voice – what was her name?

"Carolyn," murmured Vala, eyes closed, lashes spread like fans.

"That's right." A gentle hand on her forehead. "Go to sleep."

Vala awoke much later. She was still in the cave, lying down, looking up at the roof. Her head felt slightly woolly, the skin on her arms stung a little and her stomach was rather queasy but other than that she felt more or less normal. Turning her head to the left, she saw an IV infusion up on a stand, and was mildly surprised to realise that the other end was attached to her. That must have been the sharp pain from earlier.

Daniel was asleep, just beyond the IV equipment.

"Hey," turning her head, Vala saw Mitchell, sprawling close to her, against the wall of the cave. "How you feelin', Princess?"

"Mmm - okay. I think." She struggled to sit up. "But I need to tell you, Cameron darling, that I'm never, _ever_ coming back to this horrid little planet ever again. So there. You can fire me if you like, and Daniel says that you can fire him too. It's vile, and the people are beastly horrible, and even the sunshine is spiteful and…."

"I get it!" Mitchell gently slipped his arm around her shoulders and helped her settle into a seated position. "We know all that. Why do you think it took us so long to get back to you?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Vala handed him one of the cool packs that had been under her armpit. "But your excuse had better be a good one, Cameron!" She frowned at him.

At that moment Carolyn ducked in through the cave entrance. Her hair and shoulders were damp, she shook droplets of rain off of herself as she knelt, smiling, beside Vala.

"Is it raining?" the alien ran her finger down the doctor's slightly soggy BDU. "I don't here any thunder – is there any thunder?"

"No thunder," Carolyn shook a thermometer and popped it into Vala's mouth, preventing further speech. "Just rain. A lot of rain. It's died down a little now, but it was coming down in sheets earlier."

"That's why we're still here," Mitchell tugged at one of Vala's extremely scruffy pigtails. "We couldn't get out and back to the gate without getting practically washed away. It's too dangerous to try and climb the cliffs when the weather's like this."

"It's good to see you awake, by the way," Carolyn wrapped a BP cuff around the alien's arm and began to pump it up. She frowned at her friend. "And next time you and Dr Jackson are stuck on a planet that resembles the inside of an oven, make sure that you drink your share of the water!" The doctor glared ferociously at Vala.

Vala removed the thermometer and looked as if she was about to launch into one of her full length rants.

"No!" Carolyn looked more forceful and angry than either the alien or her CO had seen her in a long time. "You could have died, Vala! Quite easily! You were severely dehydrated by the time that I arrived! Your temperature was 105 degrees! Do you have any idea how serious things could have been? Don't you ever pull a stunt like that again!" She finished abruptly, cheeks pink and eyes hard.

Daniel turned onto his other side, roused by Carolyn's voice, but he remained asleep.

The doctor glanced briefly at him, when she looked back at Vala the alien was wiping her nose on the back of her hand, a single tear slipping down her cheek.

"Hey," Mitchell slipped one arm around his team mate and squeezed. "C'mon now."

Carolyn sighed, and also moved closer to her patient. "I'm sorry," she said, more softly. "But you know why I'm so angry?"

Vala shook her head, mutely.

"Because you mean a lot to everyone at the SGC, even if you don't realise it. Daniel told me – about you not drinking enough water. Some crazy idea about archaeologists being worth more than space pirates. That's absolutely not true, Vala. You are worth every bit as much to every single person here, and especially to your fellow members of SG-1. Poor Daniel was close to panicking by the time that we arrived – do you think that that's the behaviour of someone who doesn't view you as equal to himself, and a true team mate?"

Vala shook her head again. She wiped her nose once more with the back of her hand.

Carolyn passed her a paper handkerchief. "Come on, now. I don't know how SG-1 manage to do it, but your team always fall on your feet." She popped the thermometer back into the other woman's mouth.

Vala's lips were trembling just a tiny bit. She held the little stick with her fingertip.

Carolyn felt mildly remorseful for telling the other woman off quite so brusquely, but someone had to talk some sense into her. The doctor thought that she might have got through for once - the alien was looking thoughtful, as if she might have actually been listening to what was said to her.

"Thermometer." Dr Lam held her hand out, smiling at what she read there. "Good. 99 degrees. Slightly high, but you'll live. And your BP is fine. Are you hungry?"

Vala shook her head. "Not really."

"Okay." Carolyn handed her a bottle of fresh, sand free water. "Drink your way through that, rest for a while, and then you can try a light bite to eat. Looks like we're stuck here until tomorrow – even if the rain stops now, the cliffs are still too damp and dangerous to climb once it's dark."

Vala held up her hand that was attached to the IV. "What about this?"

"Once you're eating and drinking I'll take it down." Carolyn plumped up a small pillow which she had miraculously produced from her medical supplies. She laid it on top of a groundsheet, settling Vala down onto it. "Now, rest. I mean it."

"Yes Carolyn," Vala said, obediently. She took a few sips of the water, and watched Daniel for a few minutes, but when Mitchell next looked over at her, she was fast asleep.

 **TBC...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When Daniel awoke it was already twilight, and the cave was lit by a large, fluorescent lamp.

Vala was sitting up, propped against her rucksack, half heartedly picking at some type of sandwich. Her eyes brightened when she saw him move. "Daniel!" Beginning to wriggle across the ground towards him, she managed to ensnare herself in the IV tubing, to which she was still attached. She glared at it, and started tugging.

"Stop!" Daniel carefully extricated her from the tangle of plastic. He smiled and pinched her chin gently. "How are you feeling now?"

"Fine." Vala handed him the last half of the sandwich. "This is vile though. The cheese has gone all bendy. I don't even know if it still is cheese. It cheese meant to be orange? I'd much rather have had one of those chocolate deserts but Carolyn said I had to have something savoury first. She's already told me off once, did you know? I'd only just woken up and she told me off! I think that's quite unreasonable, don't you? I mean, she hadn't seen me for two days, and the first thing she did was chastise me! And Cameron was no help – he just sat there listening. I thought a team leader was supposed to defend his team members. I heard…."

"Perhaps he was pretty angry at you too?" Daniel interrupted, screwing his eyes up and trying to drown out his team mate's diatribe. "I mean, I guess if I knew that one team mate had carelessly made themselves ill, so another team mate could, let's say, get more water, then perhaps I'd feel pretty cross too."

Vala clamped her mouth shut. Pushing away from Daniel, she frowned and put her nose in the air. "Thank you for your support, darling," she added sarcastically.

The archaeologist sighed. He wouldn't have described his feelings as anger towards her, just shock when he realized how Vala had given up most of her own water for him. And now she was upset. But that was something else that she probably wouldn't admit to.

"Come here." Tugging at her arm, Daniel 'ouched' as he caught his bad ankle against the floor.

"How does it feel?" Vala forgot that she was angry and hurt and looked straight into his eyes, biting her lip.

Daniel swallowed suddenly, heart doing odd little somersaults inside his chest. She still looked beautiful, even sweaty and covered in sand, with her hair all matted and sticking up. Every day it seemed, he was starting to see more and more the real beauty of the person inside Vala.

Something had shifted between them, while they'd been stuck on this god awful planet. Vala had shown, yet again, how brave and quick-thinking she really was.

And Daniel – there was a feeling beginning to rear it's head inside his own soul – a sensation that he hadn't felt since Sha're had died. And Vala would have died for him, without even thinking twice.

The archaeologist felt truly humbled. "Um – it's better," he managed to get out, unable to look away from her mouth for some reason, which curved into a tiny smile. "The ankle. It's -uh - it's not broken."

Vala nodded, shy suddenly, and ducked her head.

"Thank you for looking after me," Daniel added, sincerely. "Really. I might not still be here, if it wasn't for you."

"Ah, pffft!" Vala waved a two handed flap, and tried not to look as if she was pleased. "Anyone could have done it."

"Yes, but it wasn't anyone who did it. It was you." Daniel took hold of her hand which had the IV still in situ, thinking that she might not waggle that one about at much as the other. "Thank you."

It was Vala's turn to swallow now. She was unsure whether to extricate her hand, which felt very comfortable in Daniel's, or to take hold of his other one. His eyes were boring into her own – those gorgeous, clear, summer sky blue eyes. Without realising it her lips parted slightly.

 _Okay, that's my cue_ , thought the archaeologist. _It's now or never._ Then he leaned forward, slipped his free hand up behind her neck, and kissed her softly and sweetly. He didn't care that he wasn't hidden by the night anymore.

Vala needed no second chances. She leaned in to the kiss, half climbing into Daniel's lap, wrapping her arms around him and returning the embrace with considerable fervour. How long the two of them would have been stuck together, smooching like teenagers, is unsure.

Mitchell's arrival on the scene, and his – "Aw, come on! Get a room, you two!" – was what broke them apart eventually.

Vala stayed tucked up in between Daniel's legs, grinning idiotically. Her beloved held her close against himself, a similar dopey smile on his own face.

"I hope that you two haven't spent the whole time that you've been here making out!" Mitchell, only half joking, threw a bottle of water at Daniel.

"No," Vala took the bottle and swigged from it. "I was being a nurse. I like being a nurse. Perhaps I'll help Carolyn in the infirmary sometime."

"God help us all!" Mitchell said, frankly, then winked. "Only teasing, Princess."

"How did you find us?" she asked, after she'd sent a healthy glare in her CO's direction.

"Well," Mitchell sat down on the sandy, pebbly floor beside them. "When you two didn't follow us back or return overnight, General Landry sent a MALP through, to see if we could make out what had happened."

"I saw it," Vala told him, sadly. "It was all shot to pieces."

"Yep, sure was," Mitchell took a slurp of water from his own bottle. "Gave us quite a shock, watching them blow it up. But then, of course, we knew that _that_ was probably why you guys hadn't made it back to the gate. Bad guys guarding it. We noticed their breathing apparatus as well – thought that was kinda odd. Had to get hold of Carter on the _Hammond_ – which took a day or so – she checked on the Asgard data base – this planet has one weird atmosphere, you know that?"

"You're telling us?" Daniel widened his eyes. "Where do you think we've been, the last few days?"

Mitchell grinned. "Yeah, I guess. Well, anyway, we got ourselves all kitted out in some of the SGC's Haz-Mat gear, hurled a load of explosives through the gate, then came on afterwards." He chuckled. "There weren't many of the guards still standing upright by that time. Some of the villagers were already out to meet us – they'd been completely over-run by the Alliance 'bout a month ago. They couldn't get a message to us, and weren't able to let us know when we all arrived, a few days ago. Women and children were being held hostage and all sorts." His face looked grim, and hard.

Vala leaned forward and rubbed his arm.

Mitchell roused himself, and squeezed her fingers. "Anyway, all the villagers are safe again now. But when we questioned them, nobody had seen you. So we turned on the tracker, and there you two were, hidden away down here. And that's that."

There was silence for a few moments, all three team mates mulling over the last few days.

Teal'c's appearance at the cave entrance distracted them.

"Muscles!" Vala went to move towards him, forgetting again that she was still attached to the drip.

Daniel caught hold of her just in time, before she succeeded in ripping it out of her hand.

"It is good to see you both," Teal'c smiled. "We have been most concerned over your wherabouts these last few days." He seated himself just inside the entrance, hair glistening with raindrops. "Dr Lam informs me that we should prepare to settle down for the night. Captain's Johnson and Treadgold from SG-7 are taking the first watch, although we expect no further incidents."

"Is someone guarding the gate?" Daniel asked.

Mitchell nodded. "SG-3. No-one's getting through it again without our permission!" He bid his team mates goodnight before creeping out of the cave and heading off to radio SG3 and check all was well around the campsite.

It was completely dark outside by now. Teal'c also bid his team mates goodnight and headed off for his own tent.

Vala, for once, sat still and quiet. She'd never belonged to a team where people actually cared if you lived or died. She'd never even belonged to a team. Sure, she'd shacked up with different people over the years, to pull off a multitude of scams and shenanigans, some more successful than others. But those people were just in it to get something out of her – her smuggling skills, or her con-woman act. She'd never been part of a gang where the other members considered your life as being equal to their own.

"Hey," Daniel lifted back a straggly, sandy bunch of hair that had slipped out of her pigtail. "You okay?"

Vala's eyes shone in the light from the lamp as she smiled, making them crinkle at the corners. "I am. I am okay. I think I might always be. If I'm here. Not on this horrid planet obviously, because then I would most definitely _not_ be alright. What I mean is I'll be alright if I'm at the SGC. If I'm with you." She stopped suddenly, breathless, having given too much away.

Daniel, face inscrutable, carefully ran one finger along her jaw line. He felt as if he'd let go of something these past couple of days, something which he'd held on to for a long time. It wasn't good, nor was it bad – it was just _something_ – a nameless emotion, a fear, a way of reacting that he'd slipped into since Sha're had been gone. Who would have thought that the zany alien who drove him to distraction and irritated him beyond measure would also have been the one to make him feel whole again.

"You're a fruitcake!" Daniel told her, pulling her as close to him as was humanly possible, before flicking the 'off' switch on the lamp and plunging the cave into darkness.

Teal'c, passing by outside a few minutes later, pretended that he couldn't hear the soft, gentle sounds of two people who were meant to be together finally getting down to what they should have been doing years ago. He smiled serenely, remembering the _Odyssey_ and a time that nobody else did. It was good to know that events which worked out in one time line also managed to come to fruition in another.

A whispered conversation from inside the cave, followed by a chuckle from Vala interrupted his musings. Teal'c moved away, content.

Gradually the camp settled down for the night. Voices stilled, lights dimmed.

Inside the cave Daniel lay awake for a long time with Vala, asleep, tucked in close against him. He couldn't seem to shift the idiotic grin that spread across his face. Eventually he shifted slightly and turned onto his back.

Vala made a noise like a little mouse and turned over with him, wriggling up close. "Love you Daniel," she muttered, not really awake.

"Love you too," he replied, and gently kissed her dusty, grimy forehead. "And I have done for a long time."

 **THE END.**

 **Thanks to all of you who stuck with this piece of utter fluffy nonsense!**


End file.
